Prior’s Coppice and the Launde Woods; Section Six of the Ivanhoe Way

Saturday 14th May and Saturday 25th June 2016

In my search for bluebells last spring, I headed east to the tiny county of Rutland and parked beside Prior’s Coppice, a Wildlife Trust property and ancient woodland that is bestrewn with wild flowers. There were bluebells, wood anemones, red campion, yellow archangel, early purple orchids, wood forget-me-nots, and bugle. This wood was absolutely delightful and I was in rapture of the wide array of flowers, but my enthusiasm was rather tempered by the wet and boggy ground underfoot, which after my walk the previous month in Cademan Wood seemed to be common in ancient woods. This is not a very large wood so after walking after Prior’s Coppice I set off along bridlepaths to another Wildlife Trust property: Launde Woods. Once again there were loads of woodland flowers: banks of forget-me-nots and bluebells, as well as purple orchids and red campions. The best part was in the north-eastern corner where an ancient lane was lined with a kaleidoscope of colours including white ramsons, bluebells, and red campions. I love the pungent smell of the wild garlic and I was enthralled by everything that I found so that I was reluctant to leave the wood.

Eventually I continued my circuit of the Wildlife Trust properties of east Leicestershire and Rutland by walking around to the Tilton Railway Cutting, which is on the remains of an old railway that used to run from Melton Mowbray to Market Harborough. The primary interest here is geological thanks to the exposed rocks that feature a plentiful number of fossils, however this doesn’t interest me although the red campion and forget-me-nots that litter the site prevented the long diversion from being a waste of time. A long walk along roads and past Launde Abbey took me back to Prior’s Coppice. Forget-me-nots were a common feature in all these woods, and often carpeted the woodland floor in a similar way to the bluebells that had been my original draw. This walk was the last of my spring excursions in search of bluebells and they all proved highly productive setting a high standard for a potential similar excursion this year.

While looking for bluebells I had abandoned my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way so it wasn’t until after my holiday in Scotland and the brief period of poor health that had followed that I finally returned to the Ivanhoe Way. Even though I still wasn’t fully well I decided that I could wait no longer and so I headed off early in the morning to the car park for the Billa Barra Nature Reserve. This small hill is a delightful place that I have visited many times before and I have always enjoyed the easy walk up the hill from the car park past many foxgloves to the top where my goal for the day, Bardon Hill, the highest point in Leicestershire, is clearly to be seen. The view all around from Billa Barra Hill is very good with a surprisingly large number of trees in an area that until recently was filled with coal mines. Heading down the hill through meadows full of oxtail daisies I reflected that the season for woodland flowers was now past and meadow flowers were now taking the fore.

After crossing the busy A511 road I headed along a footpath beside overgrown vegetation that was bejewelled with dew at this early hour and drenched my feet. I could see ahead of me that Bardon Hill Quarry was turning its attention to the area south of the hill resulting in a significant change to the landscape from gentle arable fields to bare earth and harsh wire fences. Fortunately the path is still open so I was able to make my way towards Bardon Hill, however I wanted to reach the point where I had left the Ivanhoe Way two months before, so I made a course around the edge of Bardon Hill Wood on a new path that diverts walkers around the new quarry workings. I remember that there used to be a lot of rhododendrons in that corner of the wood that has now been bulldozed, so although they would have been in flower at this time of the year I wasn’t too disappointed as these can be very invasive flowers. The diverted footpath eventually took me to a busy, albeit minor, road that I walked beside to Abbot’s Oak where I turned onto Greenhill Road to the point where I had previously abandoned the Ivanhoe Way. Finally I could resume my circuit of the Ivanhoe Way, initially through a small housing estate that led me into Bardon Hill Wood.

To the east of the top of Bardon Hill is a stunning area of heathland that is filled with many fabulous wild flowers including one of my absolute favourites: spotted-orchids that I had previously only ever seen in the Highlands of Scotland. I was so overwhelmed by the huge variety and number of wild meadow flowers that I wanted to stay on top of Bardon Hill forever, but eventually I managed to tare myself away and head up to the trig point that marks the summit of the hill. The huge quarry that lies just below the summit of the highest hill in Leicestershire fails to detract from the widespread scene across the former coalfields of north-west Leicestershire. Soon I turned south onto the narrow path that threads its way steeply through the wood past many foxgloves to reach the path that I had taken on my way towards Bardon Hill. Continuing south I saw an advantage to the new quarry workings as the old arable fields had been left to go wild producing a fabulous display of wild flowers so rather than reducing the appeal of the landscape it seemed the new quarry workings were actually enhancing it.

These new meadows were full of many lovely flowers with poppies being the most noticeable and striking in attracting the attention of the passerby. Previously these fields had been dull and boring to look at as they contained only a small variety of plants, but now the bio-diversity had been greatly increased simply by doing nothing. Eventually I returned to the busy dual carriageway that the Ivanhoe Way follows for a short distance before heading south past some stables, but after crossing a hedge I couldn’t find any trace of the path, just newly constructed fences that barred the way. This is a disappointing rejection of walkers, but rather than demanding action I made my way further down the main road onto another path that parallels the closed one. This was an interesting short path through apparently abandoned land that soon brought onto the Cliffe Hill path that in turn brought me onto the road just outside Stanton under Bardon. With darkening skies and my cough still sounding bad, I decided it would be best to return to my car and end section six of the Ivanhoe Way halfway through. On these two walks I saw loads of gorgeous wild flowers that had me in awe with works of art more splendid than anything that can be found in any gallery.